Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 21 › Conversation 021-120

Nixon phone call with an unidentified caller on Stephen B. Bull

Monday, March 20, 1972 · 5:56 PM–7:36 PM ET · White House Telephone

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); White House operatorConversation021-120 on Tape 21 (tape position 04:18:45–04:18:55)StartMonday, March 20, 1972 at 5:56 PMEndMonday, March 20, 1972 at 7:36 PMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 021-120 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon instructed the White House operator to cancel a pending call to his aide Stephen B. Bull. He instead directed the operator to initiate a call to Alexander P. Butterfield. This exchange highlights the President's shifting priorities regarding his immediate administrative communications.

Audio

Download MP3 (part 1) · 111.8 MB ·Download MP3 (part 2) · 71.1 MB

This conversation has not yet been cut into its own clip, so the player above contains the full tape segment shared with neighbouring conversations. It begins about 04:18:45 into the tape and ends around 04:18:55.

Transcript (AI-generated)

This transcript was generated automatically by AI (WhisperX) and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Names and numbers are often wrong; speakers are not identified. Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

Download transcript (.txt) · JSON data

2:22:08Operator, you can cancel that call of Steve Bull and see if you can get Butterfield.
2:22:13All right, fine, Mr. President.

NARA Description

On March 20, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 5:56 pm and 7:36 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 021-120 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 21-120

Date: March 20, 1972
Time: Unknown between 5:56 pm and 7:36 pm
Location: White House Telephone

The President talked with the White House operator.

     Cancellation of call to Stephen B. Bull

     Request for a call to Alexander P. Butterfield

Also recorded on March 20, 1972

  • 324-008 5:15 PM · 8 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 5:15 pm and 5:21 pm.
  • 324-009 5:15 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 5:15 pm and 5:21 pm.
  • 324-012 5:21 PM · 53 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Charles W. Colson, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, unknown person(s), Ronald L. Ziegler, White House operator, John D. Ehrlichman, and Stephen B. Bull met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 5:21 pm to 6:30 pm.
  • 021-117 5:30 PM · 9 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 5:30 pm and 5:56 pm.
  • 021-118 5:56 PM · 23 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 5:56 pm.
  • 021-119 5:56 PM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 5:56 pm and 7:36 pm.
  • 021-121 5:56 PM · 10 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 5:56 pm and 7:36 pm.
  • 324-013 6:30 PM · 8 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 6:30 pm and 6:34 pm.

All 20 conversations from March 20, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 021-120, March 20, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/021-120 (accessed October 12, 2026).